


Neglect

by GhostRaccoon



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Mentions of neglect, Unsympathetic Remus, Vigilante AU, corrupt superhero au, idk about that one but it's going there just in case, mentions of abuse, superhero au, unsympathetic Deceit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 00:36:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20537273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostRaccoon/pseuds/GhostRaccoon
Summary: Logan captures an unknown sidekick that he assumes is unknown to keep his abilities safe from him and his team.That couldn't be farther from the truth.





	Neglect

**Author's Note:**

> I worked on this for hours guys, I'm so tired but so proud. Hope you enjoy!!

Something wasn’t right, the entire operation was too easy. There were little to no guards on the way to the sidekick’s room, and absolutely no alarm as they brought him out. Not even a struggle from him as Patton carried the man all the way to their own headquarters.

Logan frowned as he eyed the tired looking man slouched in the chair the best he could be with his arms tied behind the backs of it in power-restraining cuffs of his own invention.

He hadn’t even asked why he couldn’t use his powers.

Hadn’t even tried to use his powers, whatever they were. Logan, with his insight ability, would have known.

Of course, with his insight ability, Logan also should know  _ why this didn’t feel right. _

Logan glanced at the security camera where Roman was no doubt watching, ready to send Patton in should anything go south in the next ten minutes that Logan himself didn’t sense coming.

Eventually the man in front of him sighed, making Logan frown at the absolute exhaustion he heard in that sound.

“Something wrong? I won’t take the cuffs off of you, but I can bring a cot in here if you need some rest. There’s no point in sleep-depriving you while you’re here.”

That confused him, making Logan furrow his brows as he tilted his head, trying to understand the situation he was dealing with.

His ability made it to where he fundamentally understood any person or thing he looked at. Logan preferred to use the ability on machines, made it easier to come up with new “toys” as Roman called them for the team to help combat the heroes running the town.

What he was reading from the sidekick in front of him wasn’t appealing at all. He was tired, anxious, and ready to just go home. He wasn’t particularly confident in the idea of going home though, which was… concerning to say the least. What did he think Logan was going to do to him?

He still didn’t speak, and before Logan could say something, his watch beeped at him with a text message.

Sighing, he picked up his wrist and tapped the screen of the watch to see what he was sent.

_ Roman: might want to drop that line of questioning. It’ll get real depressing real quick. _

Logan frowned at that, wondering what that could possibly mean as he looked at the man sitting dejectedly in front of him.

He glanced at one of the cameras in the room and flinched, Logan recognizing the small zap of pain from trying to use powers and not being able to.

“What is… what is wrong? Really, you haven’t said a word in the last two days you’ve been here, and hadn’t even really fought when we kidnapped you in the first place.”

The ample resignation that Logan read in this man’s body language was astounding. What could he have gone through to lead to such apathy?

“Other than the fact that you were wrong to kidnap me specifically? And that no one is actually going to come for me? Nothing.”

Now Logan rolled his eyes, reading nothing from that statement but self deprecation and falsehoods.

“Oh no, I have accurately assessed that you are the most important member of their team, why else would they hide you from the eyes of everyone else if not to protect you from us?”

He snorted loudly, then broke into all out cackling. He leaned forward in his seat, as if doubling over from the force of his laughter. 

Except it wasn’t genuine. It came off as disbelieving and rude and Logan couldn’t understand what prompted the reaction.

When the other man (damn it, when was he going to tell Logan his  _ name _ ) seemingly calmed down, he looked Logan right in the eyes with a grin that was so fake it almost hurt, combined with the tears crawling down his cheeks, it really did hurt.

“I give you… two weeks, tops, to realize how fuckin’ wrong you are,  _ Sherlock _ .”

Logan had never heard the name of his favorite detective be used with such venom he’d actually be offended by it, but there was a first time for everything.

“And I’ll give you three days to realize I am  _ never  _ wrong.”

Another snort, but no more words as Logan turned on his heel and walked out of the room.

Logan continued walking, needing to calm down from his indignant rage at being told he was wrong. He was never wrong, made mistakes only when he didn’t know what he was doing that was  _ rare _ . Sure, he wasn’t the best at handling emotions, but with his ability he could read them as if they were a highschool calculus textbook.

Doesn’t mean he understood them, or what caused them though, and that man’s resigned apathy was more confusing than when Patton burst out crying at Logan buying him that cat hoodie when Roman told him to get him something for their first year of being friends.

Patton.

Patton understood emotions, maybe…

Logan took a sharp right down a hallway and opened the door to see Roman comforting a sobbing Patton, causing Logan to furrow his brows.

“Is there something wrong?”

Roman huffed, glaring at Logan.

“I told you not to start that line of questioning, specs.”

Logan sighed, walking over to the swivel chair in front of the security screens, rubbing his temples as a budding headache fought its way through.

“I apologize, I should have listened. I don’t really understand what just happened though, and I was… hoping Patton would help.”

Patton hiccuped, wiping at his eyes and nodding pathetically, making Logan’s heart melt at the sight. He stood again and opened his arms, inviting his sensitive friend in for a hug that he eagerly accepted.

Logan couldn’t resist nuzzling Patton’s curly hair, the softness tickling his nose slightly, though he paid that no mind.

“I am sorry this has upset you, Patton. Let me know when you are ready and I will let you into his room.”

“Can I bring him some food? He looks so skinny…” Patton said, his voice muffled by Logan’s shoulder.

Logan hummed and nodded. “Bring whatever you need to help him open up, I feel as though something is off about this entire operation and the sooner I resolve that feeling the sooner we can figure out what our next plan of action will be.”

Roman hummed, tapping his fingers against his knee as he remained on the carpeted floor where Patton had been collapsed earlier.

“I’ll see what I can come up with, but I have to say I agree with you Logan. I didn’t foresee any fights happening at all when we started the kidnapping operation, and usually we get at least three per mission. Plus, I’ve never seen tall, pale, and emo in there participate in any of those fights either…”

Roman started to trail off, getting a faraway look on his face as he thought and looked through the data that Logan taught him to search through.

Logan couldn’t resist a small smile of pride at Roman’s progress. When they had first started he refused to plan ahead at all, preferring to rely heavily on his foresight ability to get him through a fight.

  
  


It was now Patton’s turn, and his heart clenched at the memory of the pained laughter he had heard over the security camera audio. It was almost as if the man wanted nothing more than a hug and Patton so badly wanted to provide.

He opened the door as gently as he could, minding his strength that tended to get out of control when Patton was emotional. The room was still as bright as it was before, though Patton was sure it was because their… captive, hadn’t realized he was allowed to turn the lights on and off as he pleased.

Instead of his earlier position in a chair with his arms cuffed behind his back, the man Patton so desperately wanted to comfort was laying on his back on the cot Logan brought in earlier. He had his hands buried in his dark hair, the resulting messiness showing blond roots that Patton hadn’t honestly been expecting.

“Hey kiddo,” Patton spoke up, smiling sheepishly when the man bolted upright with a startled expression. He didn’t make any sound, though. No effort to communicate.

Patton’s heart broke just a little more.

“My name’s Patton! I brought you something to eat.”

He furrowed his brows when he saw the massive picnic basket Patton was carrying as if it was as light as a handbag.

Patton set the basket down, pulling the picnic blanket from the basket and spreading it out on the linoleum floor, sitting down on it before patting the spot next to him as an invitation.

He hesitated until Patton started pulling out food, seeing the first thing (a huge container filled entirely with shredded chicken, separating the light and dark meat) and moving to the furthest spot from Patton before settling, looking bitterly at his cuffs.

Patton glanced at the security camera, knowing Roman was there, but Logan was resting, so Roman knew what he had planned. He waited exactly one minute, and when his watch didn’t ding with a text, he assumed it was safe enough to follow through.

He leaned over, applied pressure to the weak point in the cuffs, and snapped them off. The man (more a boy, really, with the way he looked, but Patton was 28 and he looked 19, so he preferred not to assume) jolted in surprise and a burst of power jumped from the cuffs before they fizzled out.

Nodding in satisfaction, Patton started pulling out more food from the basket, minding the silence between them but being polite enough to let the other speak before he tried to say anything himself.

“...Vee.”

Patton froze, a container of watermelon in his hands. He looked over at him, eyes wide.

Vee’s face was red, and he was looking pointedly at the container of sliced tomatoes in front of him that Patton had brought in case Vee had wanted to make a sandwich.

“Pardon?”

Vee hunched over himself.

“You brought me food, least I can do is tell you a name to call me,” he mumbled, pulling his hoodie sleeves over his hands and worrying the edges between his fingers.

Patton beamed at Vee, setting down the watermelon.

“Well thank you, the purpose of this trip was more to get you fed than to get your name, but that was definitely a nice bonus! Speaking of food, when was the last time you ate?”

Vee’s blush seemed to deepen, and he began biting his lip nervously as he gave a grunt in response.

Patton squinted, setting down a container of leaf lettuce in order to cross his arms as his Dad Expression settled on his face.

The expression must have worked, because the next minute Vee was sighing to himself in defeat.

“A fuckin… day before you guys brought me here, maybe?”

Patton gasped, scandalized by both the answer and the swear.

“Well! Shame on Logan for not feeding you! I’ll be sure to come in like four times a day to make sure you eat!”

Vee snorted at that, his lips tilting slight upwards in an amused smirk.

“Document that scolding for me, I’d love to see it.”

Patton rolled his eyes, though he was smiling. Instead of commenting, though, he just shoved a couple condiment bottles towards Vee, finally finished pulling out food from the basket.

Vee looked at the variety of containers and then the three different drinks Patton had barely managed to fit in the basket with an incredulous look.

“...How’d you fit all this in that basket?”

Patton grinned at that. “I’m an unrivaled champion at Household Tetris.”

Vee let a small, genuine laugh at that remark. He nodded, looking over all the food again.

“I believe you. So can I uh… just dig in?”

Patton nodded eagerly. “Yup! Just go right for it!”

Vee, now given permission, opened almost every single container as he built the biggest sandwich he possibly could fit in his mouth.

Patton watched with a grin, making his own sandwich only when Vee began to stuff his face with food, occasionally sipping from the strawberry-kiwi Snapple that he’d brought with him. He was definitely going to make friends with this cute emo, whether Logan recommended it or not!

Eventually though, Patton had to leave, and with his departure he had to re-cuff Vee with an extra set of cuffs he’d brought from the supply room.

“Sorry. I wish I could leave without doing this, but Logan would have my head if he found out I’d let out of the cuffs in the first place.”

Vee just shrugged. “Nothing I’m not used to. Not being trusted, that is.”

Patton frowned, brows furrowing, but just as he opened his mouth to ask, his watch dinged with a text.

He glanced at it.

_ RoRo: You don’t want to know, knight. Trust me. _

Patton sighed, trusting Roman and dropping the subject.

“I’ll be back again the next time you get hungry, okay? Just wave at the camera and I’ll come running.”

Vee nodded, smiling slightly.

“Yeah, okay. Thanks uh… Patton.”

Patton beamed, then left with a small wave.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Patton’s smile turned into a harsh frown. He had some words to tell Logan.

Patton’s feet took him straight to Logan’s room, knocking a little more firmly on the door than he usually would have, but this situation called for a little firmness, he thought.

Logan opened the door, confused expression set in place.

“Patton? Why are you angry?”

Putting his hands on his hips, Patton glared at Logan. “Forgetting to feed him, Logan? Really? It’s been almost four days since he ate last!”

Logan blinked, then realization dawned. “Ah, I knew I was forgetting something. I should eat too, I think I forgot to today.”

Patton threw his hands in the air in exasperation.

“Lolo! I swear, what am I going to do with you? You forget to eat, you forget to feed our guest, you even keep him cuffed like he’s an animal! Honestly!”

Logan sighed, lifting his glasses so he could rub at his eyes.

“I’m sorry Patton, if I could keep him uncuffed without the fear of him trying to use his powers to escape, I would in a heartbeat, you know that. You know how much I detest keeping him like he’s a prisoner rather than a guest, but he’s on the enemies side and we need to remember that.”

Patton deflated at that, his shoulders sagging as he a long, pained whine escaped his throat.

“Lolo I wanna hug hiiiiiim.”

Logan frowned, confused once again. “Why?”

Patton sniffled. “He… Vee’s said some really concerning things and I’m worried! Said he was used to not being trusted but… but he’s a hero’s sidekick, why wouldn’t he be trusted?”

Logan’s frown deepened. “That… doesn’t add up with what we’ve seen… I mean, we’ve always known the hero’s intentions to be… less than ideal but… to go so far as to not trust their own kind?”

Patton wiped at his eyes as Logan began to mutter, another pathetic whine emerging when he felt like he’d gone long enough without affection.

Logan smiled sheepishly and opened his arms again to let Patton step in again.

“I’m sorry Patton. We’ll get this figured out soon enough.”

Patton nodded, burying his face in Logan’s shoulder again.

“Why don’t we go to bed, then? We’re both exhausted, and I’m sure Roman is capable of watching… Vee? For a few hours.”

“Okay,” Patton agreed, letting Logan lead him into his room.

  
  


Roman usually would have gotten bored by now, watching Vee by himself, but right now he was busy looking into possible futures, trying to play the game he was playing with himself and unable to figure out the rules because he never gave off any facial features whenever he won or lost… if he won or lost.

Suddenly, he looked up at the camera, making Roman jump slightly. Was he going to have to go wake up Logan and Patton?

“Ya know, knowing that someone is literally watching my every move is creepy as hell.”

Roman snorted. Watching someone’s every move made him feel like a creep, so he supposed they were even.

He glanced at the speaker button before sighing. May as well, he didn’t see any harm in it.

“And how were you so sure I was here, JDelightful?”

Vee snorted, rolling his eyes and going back to the deck of cards Patton had left behind.

“Patton told me to wave at the camera. If he wasn’t sure someone would see it, why would that be his instructions?”

Roman nodded to himself. That is a good point.

“Alright then, care to tell me what exactly you’re playing? I’ve been trying to figure it out for the better part of an hour.”

  
  


Vee looked at the camera with clear disbelief.

“I’m… not playing anything? I’m organizing the cards. How… how did you not see that?”

Roman blinked, harrumphing in response before taking his finger off the button, accidentally hitting another when he moved his hand away from it and watching as the lights switched off in the room.

Quiet.

Roman turned the lights back on in a panic to see if what he’d seen happened and sure enough, Vee was curled into a ball, his hands over his ears, rocking back and forth with wide eyes.

Instantly Roman rushed out of the room and turned a few halls to get to the holding cell, flinging the door open (did Patton forget to lock it?) and rushing to Vee’s side. He hovered his hands over the other’s body before pulling back and taking deep breaths.

What helped him out of his own anxiety? Disney music, usually.

Worth a shot.

Lowly, Roman began to sing trying to keep his words even and slow as he grabbed one of Vee’s hands to keep him grounded and pull it away from his ears so he could hear.

It didn’t work at first, but Roman kept going, visions flashing through his mind of Vee calming down if he kept his current path.

And he did, eventually. It took like three disney songs, but Vee calmed down and actually slumped against Roman, eyes closed, though he wasn’t asleep.

Roman flushed, but didn’t comment on the closeness.

“You feel better?” he asked nervously, playing with Vee’s fingers that were now loose in his hands.

Vee gave a sluggish shrug, grunting noncommittally. Roman huffed, then moved to get up before Vee whined and Roman saw a flash of another panic attack happening if he left him alone.

Sighing, Roman settled in on the cot with Vee pressed into his chest, humming more songs, though not exclusively Disney this time.

  
  
  


In the end, Logan was wrong. Virgil didn’t really know why he felt a crushing weight in his chest when the three week mark hit and Logan was pacing the room with an angry frown. He was expecting this, he knew Daimon wasn’t going to come for him, and Remus followed Daimon around like a lost puppy, why would he care about anything other than what the snake wanted?

Virgil sighed, hanging upside down off the edge of the cot while Logan paced.

“Ya know, I told you a week ago that the two week mark was over. Do you really think they’re going to come after me at this point?”

Logan glared over at him, earning an eyebrow raise.

“Forgive me if I don’t understand how someone with such an important power in our technological age  _ isn’t viewed as important _ , Vee.”

Virgil shrugged.

“Don’t sweat it, I was only ever really around to make sure the mics couldn’t catch their lies and the camera’s didn’t see them do what they didn’t want seen.”

Logan stopped, staring at Virgil in wonder.

“You know what they’re like.”

Virgil frowned, uprighting himself now so his feet were planted firmly on the ground.

“Of course I know what they’re like. Da-er… Deceit was my best friend. Then the Duke came along and everything kind of went to shit.”

Roman’s lip curled in distaste. “Honestly, what kind of hero name is  _ Deceit _ ?”

Virgil shrugged. “What kind of villain name is Prince?”

Roman gave an offended gasp.

“It is  _ not  _ a villain name! It is my future hero name, when the corrupt are overthrown and we, the just, are able to take their place!”

Virgil snorted, rolling his eyes.

“Uh-huh, sure.”

Patton frowned. “You don’t think we’d be better heroes?”

Virgil shook his head. “Nah, you guys have already more than proven you’re way better than Deceit and Remus. Especially since you guys uncuffed me on day five. I still get put in holding cells at home if they think I’m gonna use what I know against them.”

Patton puffed out his cheeks, clearly upset by this information.

Logan hummed, looking between the three of them, an idea turning in his mind like well oiled cogs.

“I think… I have a way to expose them, especially now that we have Vee’s abilities on hand…” 

Vee blinked, forgetting that Logan came up with ideas faster than even Roman, with his foresight abilities.

“Yeah, teach? What’s that?”

Honestly, the idea of going against his ex-best friend didn’t sit right, but Virgil wanted more than anything to be friends with the three surrounding him. Wanted to see where this team might go and if they went the same direction Daimon and Remus did then… he’d see, but he honestly doubted that to happen.

He really, really did.


End file.
